


RE: New Generation

by LunaKBN



Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse)
Genre: Action/Horror, Bio Organic Weapons | B.O.W.s (Resident Evil), Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance | BSAA, Blood, Blood and Gore, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Fluff, Found Family, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Gore, Hacking, Hurt/Comfort, Loss, M/M, Mentions of abuse and torture, Obsession, Original Character Death(s), POV First Person, Slow Build, Videogame Logic applies to all science within, long fic, mostly canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 22:42:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29089992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunaKBN/pseuds/LunaKBN
Summary: A tragedy shook Kimberly and her family's life years ago. She set out to investigate the disappearance of her little brother after the authorities found nothing. Eventually, she stumbled upon dark secrets that pulled her into the path of BSAA-operatives Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield. Her goal is to find the person responsible for her life going to hell and make them pay. To learn the necessary survival skills for that, she joins the BSAA, learning everything an agent needs to survive the BOWs they may encounter.
Relationships: Chris Redfield & Original Character(s), Chris Redfield/Jill Valentine, Jill Valentine & Original Character(s), Original Character/Original Character
Kudos: 4





	1. The First Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> I've been working on this for nearly a year now, and have quite a few chapters written. The story focuses on the characters, their interactions and how they overcome the obstacles put in their path. It's going to be action for the first half of the story, but I'm planning on adding plenty of survival horror to the chapters, you guessed it, Resident Evil-style, staying true to the world they built. But before I could do that, Kimberly needs to learn. ;)
> 
> Also, I'm ignoring RE7, just because. So Chris is still with the BSAA.

I messed up. I got reckless and got caught for it. Such an amateur move, damn it! I should have taken care. I should have taken my time. I was in no rush. I could have waited for a couple more minutes to finally find out the truth. But I was so close! I knew it in my bones that I was closer than ever before. It took me years, but I did it. I did what the authorities couldn’t. 

And I ended up in lock-up for it. 

They’ve been keeping me in jail for over a day now. I didn’t actually mind that, though. The cell I was occupying was still much nicer than the hole I had been calling my home for the past few years. The cot I was laying on was warm and comfy, bugless. It was refreshing to sleep without the need to claw at my skin afterwards. 

I missed my old home. I missed my old life, where I didn’t have to worry about bedbugs, about scraping together enough money for the bare necessities. But that time was long gone, there was no reason to dwell on it further. It caused me far too many sleepless nights before. 

At least I could get busy then. In the cell, there was nothing to do. 

I have counted the cracks on the ceiling, the number of barks of the police dogs from the nearby kennels, and the individual footsteps of the officers roaming the halls of this police station, recognizing some of their motions. The captain, Jeremiah Hutch, was the one that walked the halls the most, checking up on everyone. He was a hard-working man, and despite his age, he did not let himself go. His footfalls were heavy, just not because of his gained weight, but because of confidence. He was one of the best people on the force, with many accomplishments. 

I always liked him, even when I was dating his son. He was always kind to me, especially after all that had happened in my family. He pitied me, I think. He knew my family better than most; he grew up being friends with my father and was the first to respond to the emergency call that fateful night that nearly ended with me thrown into jail for the murder of my dad. 

It was self-defense, the judge realized that, too. I was sentenced for extended community service and assigned a useless, incompetent parole officer, who was supposed to be watching me. Instead, I managed to go behind her back and gather as much information about my own little investigation as I could.

Seven years ago, my little brother and his entire class with their two teachers went hiking to the nearby mountains. It was summer, so they were not the only hikers there, taking the safe routes that the park rangers have already marked for everyone. Yet they were the only ones that disappeared without a trace. All twenty kids and their teachers, gone without leaving any clues behind. 

Volunteers, experienced hikers, the police, the families and the rangers all combed the mountains for them, helicopters flew above, shining lights down upon the search party. I was there, too. I had made that trek many times, never noticing anything out of the ordinary. Other than a few bears that were too close for comfort. 

I always made it out.

They didn’t. 

Eventually, the intensity of the search dwindled, less and less people helped. The authorities gave up, declaring them missing, then after multiple years; dead. 

I kept searching, even though everyone told me that my attempts are futile, useless. The possibility that they would somehow turn up alive and well after several years was less than optimal. What else was I supposed to do? It destroyed my family. My father succumbed to his gambling and alcohol addiction; my mother devoted all of her time to her work, and I became obsessed trying to right it all. 

I tried keeping them together, keeping us together. Dad only needed one sudden fit of rage to undo it all. It happened when mom and I were working on one of her projects in the shed outside our house. She was an engineer, and I wanted to be one, too. She was teaching me, showing me circuitry and wiring. We were attempting to make a small robot. Ugly little thing, but it would have been perfect. 

Dad didn’t like it. He hated the attention mom was giving me and our passion project, instead of serving him like she was nothing but a slave to him. We noticed that he was becoming violent and we tried to help him. Got him appointments at the doctors, both physician and psychologist, but he never showed up to either. He didn’t want help. 

That evening, he lashed out harder than before. He grabbed a hammer from a nearby workbench and viciously attacked mom, screaming at her. I screamed in terror, scrambling away from my mother, who died at the first slam of the hammer. I saw as her eyes rolled back, as her body crumpled to the ground, and I just screamed. 

Then dad pulled the hammer out of her skull and hit her again. And again. And again, until her blood was everywhere, even on me. When he finally looked at me, he had such a tranquil expression on his face, that I didn’t want to believe my own eyes. He slowly put the hammer back to where he found it, and opened his arms for me. He wanted to hug me, telling me that it will all be alright. That I still have him, that I’m not alone. 

I lied to the judge, to the police. It wasn’t self-defense. He wasn’t attacking me.

But I attacked him, when he cornered me, when I had nowhere left to scurry away from him. I was terrified of him. I didn’t even think when he crouched down next to me. I was still clutching the electrical wires in my hands, wearing protective gloves. Electricity was running through those wires from a nearby car battery, and I fried his brain with them as I screamed and pushed those to his temples, intending to slow him enough to get away from him, not outright kill him. 

The smell. God, I will never forget the stench of burnt flesh. 

He made no sound, just like mom, when he fell on his back, the nerve damage making his entire body convulse and shake before going still, open-mouthed. Dead.

Hutch was the first to get to the scene. He found me, with my back to the wall of the shed, knees pulled up, sobbing, as I was still clutching those wires, almost as if waiting for my father to get up and run at me. But he didn’t get up. Neither of them did.

That was nearly three years ago. I still owe him a lot; he helped me after the house was lost, because of the debt my father had accumulated, unknown to us before. He helped me stay on my feet, stay alive. And how did I thank him? By breaking into the police department’s servers to look at their files. 

It ended with my scrawny butt on the cot, staring up at the ceiling, multiple charges against me. I couldn’t even count how many laws I violated with this. I didn’t even care, because I found what I was looking for. 

I found the corporation responsible for my little brother’s disappearance. After hacking into the local library, I found many archived articles online that dated back many decades. Turns out, the kids weren’t the only unusual case. Many have disappeared before, on different trails, but the same vicinity. These were only breadcrumbs that didn’t satisfy my hunger at all. I went after a bigger fish, as a self-taught hacker. I thought I was careful. 

Apparently not.

Of course, I got a lot of shit from Hutch, and I understood his anger and disappointment completely. I was to keep in touch with him, even after I broke up with his son, to ensure him that I was safe, that I was alright. Instead, I dropped off the face of the earth and immersed myself completely in the world of computers. Programming, at first, then hacking. 

He thought I was dead. 

I was close many, many times before. A slit on the wrist was all I needed; sometimes, it was all I wanted. But then who would have continued the search for the truth? Everyone gave up. The families moved on, some literally, moving to another city on the other side of the country to be as far from this godforsaken place as possible. 

It would have been easier to move on, but I couldn’t. I needed something to keep me going. That obsession became my undoing. How ironic.

No, not ironic. Sad.

Sad, like the ceiling. That oh, so boring ceiling I kept staring at. They could have at least given me a book to read. Having to rely on my already fucked-up mind for entertainment was less than satisfactory. And over a day! What the hell is taking them so long? This should be standard procedure; I broke many laws. They listed all of them already, written my files, called a lawyer. Only that lawyer never showed. 

Until they did, it seemed like. I heard movement for the first time since I was given dinner. One of them was the captain, who should have been home already by this hour, approaching the entrance to the cell block. He brought with him someone, who’s footsteps were new. Light, quiet and careful. A woman, maybe. Perhaps not a lawyer, she wasn’t wearing stilettos, like most do.

The keys rattled on the keychain as they entered, still out of my sight. I wasn’t sure they were there for me, since they entered and stayed there.

“Once again, thank you for coming here, Miss Valentine. I know that your organization is usually handling events that are bigger scale, but... I’ve worked with your partner before and I didn’t know who else to call.” It was the captain, as predicted.

“You told our agent on the line that the girl came in contact with something?” the woman interrupted him, still not moving from the door. Her voice was pleasant, if mildly irritated. I had a feeling she didn’t want to be present. 

“That is not the wording I used. She didn’t contact anything biochemical. I called you here because of what she found amongst our files even we didn’t know existed. She is a bright kid; always a straight A student, top of her class. She hacked our system, looking for something that would help her find her missing brother. Digging through our archives, she found an old investigation case against the corporation that owns the nearby power plant. Your partner already has her files, everything we could get out of her home.”

That was new. “What?!” I exclaimed loud enough for them to hear and put my feet on the ground, turning towards the door. “You had no right to raid my hole, Hutch!” 

I heard the impatient sound he made before continuing my way. I was ready for him; my arms were crossed above my chest demandingly and my cold, piercing grey eyes were narrowed at the spot he would likely stop at. 

He had the audacity to look guilty when he arrived. “I had a warrant, Kimberly, even though I needed to dig for hours just to find that run down building’s address to get it,” he added, muttering. I snorted and gazed at the woman that followed him. 

She gave me a critical look, subtly eyeing me. I returned the gesture. She was tall, slender, wearing casual attire. Not a pantsuit or anything resembling formal, business attire, but simple form-hugging jeans and a t-shirt that left the well-defined muscles on her arms visible. Definitely not a lawyer.

She could have been, though. She had a pretty face, I estimated her age as late thirties or early forties, serious expression, her lips narrowed into a perpetual frown that deepened the longer she was staring at me. I was not a model by any means with my baggy, dirty shirt that had more holes in it than I dared to count, messy, shoulder-length purple hair that was beginning to show the original black at the top, hugging a face that was by no means perfect. It used to be; I used to think I was pretty, but constant malnourishment isn’t exactly healthy. 

“We found many hidey-holes in it,” he continued.

I rolled my eyes. “I hate how good you are at your job,” I frowned. “Who’s your friend, captain?” I asked him as I hopped down from the cot and approached. The woman kept staring at me and opened her mouth to introduce herself before I interrupted her. “Not a lawyer; not formal enough. Not a cop; I would be at least familiar with the footsteps. Not a fed; don’t look like a pencil-pusher.” My assessment earned me a raised eyebrow from the woman and a small smirk. 

“And how would you know that?”

“You have muscular arms, ma’am, and a no-sell posture. Soldier?” I asked, tilting my head slightly to the right, turning back to the captain. “What is the army doing here?”

He sighed and opened the door of my cell. “Not the army, exactly. I’ll let her explain.”

I nodded at him and stuck my right arm out towards her as a greeting. “Kimberly Gowen. At your service.” 

She gave me a puzzled, almost amused look, and took my hand, shaking it. Unsurprisingly, she had a firm handshake. “Jill Valentine from the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance, B.S.A.A. for short.” 

I nodded, immediately recognizing the agency. I had heard about it in the news. I gave Hutch a sideways glance. “What did I get myself into this time?” He just shook his head, so tired of it all. 

“Just come with us, Kimberly,” he added, resigned, and opened the door of my cell. I offered him my wrists to cuff, but he ignored me, already in motion to go to the interrogation room. 

“You are not even going to cuff me?” I demanded to know. He was so adamant in showing it to everyone when he brought me in, that it felt completely wrong. 

“The only person you pose a danger to is yourself, we both know that.”

“True,” I murmured and glanced up at the woman. 

She motioned after the captain. “After you.” Unlike Hutch, she didn’t know me, she didn’t trust me. I didn’t trust her; it was a mutual understanding. 

The officers of the night shift were slacking off, as usual, playing cards at their desks, not even being bothered by their captain being on the premises. They didn’t even glance at us as we headed towards the interrogation room. When they brought me in, they made me wait two hours in that dank room, all by myself, cuffed to the table. I couldn’t even pace, I had practically nothing to occupy myself with but a glass of water. I drank that water within the first half hour.

The room was lit already, but barring some files on the table, it was completely empty. I recalled the captain mentioning the woman’s partner and was positive that they were watching from behind the two-way mirror. I made sure, that I waved and muttered an overly cheerful “Hello!” as I entered, staring straight at the glass. 

“Kimberly,” I heard Hutch’s strained voice. I rolled my eyes.

“I’m just trying to be polite. I know that they are there, I heard you talk about her partner.”

“You are very perceptive,” Valentine told me as she sat down and opened the files about me. I sat down on the opposite side, fidgeting with my fingers and anxiously tapping with my feet. 

She was quietly reading for minutes, so I glanced up at Hutch, hoping that he would tell me at least some information about their interest in me and what I found. I barely even got to take a look at it before I was arrested, so I was mostly in the dark. I hated it. I worked for that information, for crying out loud!

He supportively put a heavy hand on my shoulder, seeing how nervous I was. He was always good at reading people with those warm brown eyes of his. To be frank, he seemed quite exhausted at the moment. The faint wrinkles on his relatively handsome, greying bearded face were more prominent than usual, and his brown, greying hair was not combed the way it usually was. Which was more than odd, since for as long as I can remember, his hair was always the same length, the same shape. Not today.

I found myself opening my mouth to ask him what the problem is, when Valentine spoke again. “Captain, would you please leave us alone? I need to speak to her plainly, without you influencing her.” He immediately wanted to protest. “It is apparent that you two have a history. For the investigation, it would be best if I spoke to her alone.”

“If you think that’s best,” he agreed, squeezing my shoulder slightly before hurrying out.

“Hutch! Eat something, you look like shit,” I yelled after him, but he was already out the door. I frowned after him for a few seconds, before turning back to the woman.

“I don’t know many people who would dare talk to a police captain the way you do. Especially a criminal like yourself,” she remarked. 

“I’m not a crimi…” I began, before shutting my mouth. She was right. I had become a criminal in my search for justice. How quaint. “Fair point,” I muttered, averting my gaze from her shamefully. I wasn’t proud of what I had resorted to, but it was necessary. “I’ve known the captain since I was a kid. He was friends with my father, and I dated his son for many years. I always liked him. He is a good man, an even better cop, and he would have been a good father-in-law.” I sighed. Instead, Mark will marry someone else soon. They are already expecting a baby. 

“Why did you break up?”

I gave the files a pointed look. “Isn’t that obvious?”

“You have been through a lot. Barely over 24, and already had a murder-charge dropped against you. Now you are charged with multiple violations of the law.” She leant back on the chair, expectantly crossing her arms in front of her. “I want you to tell me everything.”

I furrowed my brows. “Why? You already have it all in front of you. My life condensed into few pages of meticulous data.”

“That is exactly why. This is just statistics. It says more about the one that compiled it, than yourself.” I sincerely doubted that, but whatever.

“What do you want to know? How far do you want me to go back?”

“Let’s start with the disappearance of your brother.”


	2. The Interrogation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kimberly gets interrogated by Jill and Chris.

I knew where she wanted me to start even before she answered my question, so it didn’t come as a surprise. I nodded, and took a deep breath, gathering my thoughts.

“Vincent and his class were going on a hike one day, seven years ago. A simple trail, easy for beginners. I’ve made it myself many times, so I knew it well enough. The trail is safe, not very long before ending up at an official ranger-operated campsite. Couple hours at most, even when being extremely careful. The kids and their two teachers started at nine and should have been at the campsite by noon. They never arrived. The hikers they met on the route confirmed that they made it at least halfway through before dropping off the face of the earth.”

“Any other trails, that they could have accidentally wandered onto?”

“None. They are marked differently, and both of the teachers were experienced hikers. The search for them began that same night, with the police and the rangers helming the search, aided by the families. The next day, even more people joined, looking for anything that could indicate foul play, an animal attack, a landslide… Anything, really. But the earth was undisturbed, there were no wild animals in the vicinity, absolutely no traces of blood, of struggle, nothing. The search died down almost completely after a few months. They were eventually declared dead.”

She put a stray lock of blonde hair behind her ear as she glanced down at the papers in front of her. “Your parents didn’t take it well?”

I laughed. It was a sour, humorless sound. “That’s one way of putting it.” 

I looked away from her, struggling to keep my composure. It was a sensitive topic; I hated that my mind kept revisiting those memories, but I hated talking about it even more. Especially to someone I just met. 

I took a shaky breath and answered without looking back at her. “My mother tried to take her mind off it by overworking herself and my father got even more addicted to gambling and alcohol than ever before.” 

“I know that this isn’t easy for you, but tell me about the day they died,” she insisted, keeping her gaze steadily on me. I don’t know what she was looking for.

I swallowed uneasily, fixating on a small hole in the wall. It looked like it was created by someone punching it angrily. 

I decided to give her the condensed version. 

“Mom was teaching me robotics in her workshop when dad had wandered in and killed her with a hammer; multiple attacks to her skull. When he moved towards me, I...” I suddenly found it hard to speak, my voice was weak, raspy. I cleared my throat, attempting to pull myself together. I needed a minute, and Valentine was patient. “I was learning wiring with electric cables. Mom made sure we took the necessary safety precautions, wearing protective attire. Dad wore nothing of the sort, so when I panicked and... uhm... weaponized the wires against him, he...” 

I glanced down at the pages she was currently sifting through. The photos of the crime scene, my parents and their wounds pictured closely. I fought the urge to throw up and forced my eyes shut. I didn’t need to see that again. I saw it every night already, I didn’t need another reminder. 

“I’m sorry, that this happened to you,” she offered me her sympathies. She seemed sincere when I opened my eyes again to look at her. “The memories are never going to go away,” she added, quieter than before. 

“You’ve seen some shit, hm? Then I’m sorry for you, too,” I reacted honestly. “It cannot be easy for you; fighting bioterrorism. I’ve only seen the news and read articles on the web, seen some snaps of the monsters, that various idiots created. But you and your people are out there, actually facing those things, fighting them.” I quieted for a second, thinking. “The information I found. How is it related to bioterrorism? I didn’t have much time with the files before they arrested me, I only caught some interesting snippets of info and honestly, it didn’t make much sense.”

She considered telling me, I could see it on her, but before giving me an answer, she stared at the mirror instead and motioned with a finger to her partner, calling them into the room. A few seconds later, a man entered and closed the door behind himself.

He was taller than Valentine, well-built, wearing cargo pants and a plain, khaki t-shirt. There was a holster with a pistol in it secured around his belt, though I had no doubt that he would not need the aid of a gun in the room. The muscles on his biceps were bulging. He was intimidating. I was thankful Valentine decided to lead instead of the grumpy man. 

He was around the same age as her, his stubbly face had begun showing faint signs of age. His eyes were brown, narrow, his lips pressed into a thin line as he looked at me. His grumpy expression softened when he took his gaze off me, to Valentine. He was clutching the files I kept hidden in the hole I called my home to his chest, making sure those didn’t end up scattered on the floor. There was a lot of them. 

They silently communicated with each other for a few seconds, then they must have come to an understanding, since he slammed the files down on the table, sending some pages flying. I swiftly caught one that flew past me. 

“That took me years to compile. Now it’s not even in the right order,” I grumbled, staring at the visible pages with a frown. 

“You will not need it in jail,” the man told me. His voice was as gruff as his exterior suggested. I sighed. Right. Jail. Because I’m a criminal now. Shit. 

“How many years do you think I will get?”

“At least ten.”

“Shit.” He smiled at my apt reaction. 

“What did you expect? You broke numerous laws when you hacked into the police database.”

“I didn’t expect I would get caught,” I told him, annoyed. “This isn’t the first time I’ve done this. I know the time limit before I get detected. I made a stupid mistake, because I found what I was looking for and got reckless.” I pulled the files close to myself, trying to find what I managed to print out last. “This is part of the last thing I gleaned. An investigation case against Barulmel Pharmaceuticals, the owners of the now abandoned power plant, that is coincidentally, only twenty minutes away from the trail they took.” I got another page, detailing the location. “They are not the only ones that disappeared nearby. And there is also the reason for its shut-down.” I pulled another paper from the pile. “All of their workers died weeks before it. Hundreds of people worked there, and they all showed the same symptoms of an unknown disease before they died. And it’s all been hushed. No newspaper articles were published about it, no one even wrote drafts about it. I know, I hacked all the archives I could find. It’s like the people were simply... forgotten. The families were probably paid off.”

“What about their medical records?” Valentine asked me as she gazed at the pile.

“Most of those files were still in paper form, but I know for a fact, that they began digitalizing everything. All I could find should be here.” Without further ado, I snatched all of it to myself, looking for the scientific babble I didn’t understand. I was no doctor; I knew nearly nothing about the human body. “Hmm. It seems, Hutch didn’t find everything in the hole,” I muttered upon not finding the papers I was looking for. “I feel a little better about myself now.”

The man sighed. “We need those files,” he told his partner, who was likely thinking the same thing.

“I know, Chris. Is the captain watching?” She glanced at the two-way mirror. 

“No. He took her advice and headed towards the vending machine to get himself something.”

“Good,” I interjected.

“Do you mind showing us where you hid those papers?” he turned to me suddenly. I shrugged my shoulders.

“I’m going to jail soon, so I’ll not be able to snoop around anyways. Unless... I could go with you?” 

They both smiled at this and answered at the same time. “No.” 

I sighed, hunching back against the chair, deflated. “Thought so. I just... If you find something about my brother, Vincent Gowen, will you let me know? Please? I need to know what caused my life to go to hell.”

“We will do what we can,” Valentine assured me, then immediately stood up. “I’ll talk to the captain, see what we can do about taking her out for a short time.”

I watched her leave, then turned to her partner, who didn’t even introduce himself to me. He had more pressing issues, I guess. “So, what exactly do you think you will find there? I’ve seen the news that featured your organization; you are usually called when shit had already hit the fan.”

“I expect to find nothing there, I think we are wasting our time in this city, but Jill is convinced that this case is more than meets the eye. I trust her instincts. Besides, I’ve known the captain for a few years now, through mutual friends. He called in a favor.” I narrowed my eyes at him. 

I wasn’t aware Hutch had friends outside of the city. He was never extremely social, unlike his wife, who fancied throwing large parties at their home with or without his approval. It ended in divorce a couple years ago, and for the better, I’d say. Hutch seemed happier since that.

“And how does the B.S.A.A operate? Do you have a team ready? Or is it just you two? How do these missions work?” I asked curiously, because I might as well keep the conversation going. To my surprise, he decided to answer.

“It depends on the situation. Some missions need only one person, some a pair, and others, multiple teams. I haven’t decided which one this is going to be, it all depends on the leftover information you’ve hidden.”

“What do you think they needed those people for? If they are indeed responsible for the disappearances?”

“It is usually the creation of some B.O.W.” I didn’t know that abbreviation, so I briefly narrowed my eyes at him, tilting my head to the right. “Bioorganic weapon,” he helped me out, seeing my clueless face. I nodded. “But this is supposed to be a power plant, not some science facility.”

“’Supposed to be’ is the key expression. It is way more than that.”

“You’ve lived here your entire life, correct?” Another nod. “What can you tell me about it?”

“Not much more than what I already told you. I was a kid when they closed it for good. There were always some teenagers that braved the high fences at night, seeking the thrill of the abandoned complex. I can only forward what they told me. It’s abandoned. Its ominous buildings have fallen to disrepair. Some critters moved in, being responsible for the noises they heard. You know, now I’m not sure about the last one,” I added, just as the door opened again. The captain was holding a sandwich in his hand, chewing the missing portion.

“Even I’m not allowed to do this on my own, so give me a minute to get one of my officers,” he told us as he approached me, dangling his handcuffs on a finger. “I’m sorry, I must.”

I sighed and held my arms out at him. The metal was cold around my wrists, but he made sure the grip wasn’t too tight. The cuffs were mostly just for show, anyways. We both knew I wasn’t stupid enough to try and get away from the police. They would find me.

He took another bite from the sandwich as he rushed out to get another guard for me. It was standard procedure, so I didn’t comment, just stayed put on my butt, staring at my cuffed hands. I soon felt the agents’ gaze on me, so I looked up at them. 

“Where did you learn to hack?” Valentine asked me as she leant on the doorframe. “You were accepted to MIT, but never began your studies there.”

I nearly jumped off the chair. Her words didn’t make sense. She was lying. “What are you talking about? I never got any letters from any universities I applied to. I never got accepted anywhere.” The answer hit me before she could react. I clenched my fists and shut my eyes. I was suddenly furious. “Dad, you son of bitch,” I snarled, still keeping my eyes shut. I opened both a few seconds later. “He never wanted me to leave this city. I guess his way of ensuring I remained was that he hid the acceptance letters from me. Son of a bitch,” I repeated.

“So you are self-taught?” the man asked me. I answered with a nod, still muttering a variety of curses under my nose. “That is impressive.”

I snorted. “Not like it did me any good.” I lifted my cuffed hands his way. 

“You are looking at it wrong,” he insisted, shaking his head. “With it, you discovered something that many people have died for. Secrets, that might end an operation that could threaten this entire city. I’m sure, that the judge would see the significance of this discovery and lower the duration of your sentence. Provided we find something.”

I gave him a sad smile. “And what would be the point of that? What am I supposed to do with my life? I will find no job, no one would want to employ an ex-convict. I don’t have the money to go to the MIT, I got nothing. If they decided to keep me in jail, until the day I die, I would be fine with it.”

“We can go,” Hutch came back, interrupting this straining conversation at the best possible moment, preventing me from pouring out my heart to people I just met. Why was I so forthcoming? 

Did I trust them? It certainly felt like it. They gave me no reason to, but I did. It was probably because of their attitude towards me. They didn’t belittle me for being... me. An insignificant, grey little girl, that most people tended to ignore. They were nice to me, unlike most people the last couple years. It was... It felt great, to be talked to like a person and not just a dirty gutter rat they want to kick.

I stood up, heading to the door. The young officer, a rookie I didn’t yet know, pushed past both Hutch and Valentine and grabbed my upper arm, squeezing it almost enough to bruise. I scowled at him. “There is no need to manhandle me, I can walk perfectly well on my own without you dragging me.”

He didn’t even react, just towed me behind himself, completely ignoring the others, earning some curious glances. 

“Listen, if this is your way of impressing Hutch, you are not doing a very good job of it, rookie,” I kept going, because the more I talked, the more irritated he became. 

“You are a criminal,” he finally talked to me. “I’m handling you like a criminal.”

“No, you are handling me like an asshole,” I replied. I could see his jaw clench, but that was the only reaction he gave me. Mostly because Hutch cleared his throat behind us. 

“Officer Molner,” he was given a warning, that made him stop the instant. The words carried weight. “I didn’t say, that you need to abduct her. Get a patrol car to the front of the building and I will take her there.”

“Yes, sir.” His hand was gone that instant and after shooting me a less than kind look, I smirked at him. He refrained from saying anything else, just approached another officer at a desk and requested a car key. 

“He is... eager to prove himself,” Hutch told me as he stepped next to me.

“He is going to end up with a black eye on that handsome face of his if he keeps treating every criminal like this. Not all of them are going to be weak girls like myself.”

“And hopefully, he will learn from it,” I was told. He sounded like he doubted this. I decided not to comment further. “I presume you will be following us in your own vehicle?” he turned back to the BSAA operatives, who were right behind us. 

“Yes,” the man answered and held a hand out towards his partner with his palm turned up. “Keys?” The woman frowned at him, earning a smile. “Jill, we agreed. You drove here, now it’s my turn.” She rolled her eyes at him, but smiled, fishing a keychain out of one of her many pockets. “Thank you. We parked a ways off, so I’ll be a few minutes,” he told the captain as he hurried off. 

Hutch took my upper arm to lead me outside. He was much gentler than the rookie and I appreciated it. 

It was getting dark outside. The street was still busy as ever, with numerous people rushing home after work, or to do some late shopping, or whatever. The streetlamps were already lit, illuminating the parked cars before the police station, the path of the pet-owners as they walked their dogs and cats, and a shady looking guy that was leaning on one of the lamps lazily. He wasn’t doing anything, just mutely observing the people. He was wearing a fedora – who wears those anymore, especially during summer? – so, his face was in total darkness. Still, somehow, as he moved his head to look towards us, I knew that he was looking at me. A tingly feeling at the base of my spine and the urge to start running, possibly for my life, made me extremely grateful that I wasn’t alone.

I was scared, and I seemed to be the only one.


	3. The Cubbyhole

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The investigation into the kidnapping continues, with the BSAA agents accompanying Kimberly to the place she called her home for a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a pretty slow-burn type of fic, so it will take a while for the story to pick the pace up. ;)

The fast, rhythmic pumping of my blood was only drowned out by the traffic. The constant honking of those impatient was annoying, but not annoying enough to take my mind off that man. It felt like his unseen gaze cut deep into my soul, looking for something. I swallowed hard, and forced my eyes off him. I didn’t understand my reaction, nothing prompted it. He didn’t even look intimidating. He looked dapper, really, wearing a fedora and seemingly well-tailored suit. He didn’t have weapons on him, he wasn’t doing anything suspicious.

So, why was I terrified enough to take a step closer to Hutch, seeking protection?

The captain gave me a quick glance when I moved, but didn’t comment, just scoured the street for the rookie. He arrived a minute later, when the mysterious man began not so discreetly snapping pictures of us. Was I really the only one seeing this shit? No one reacted, so probably. 

The rookie opened the door in front of me when we arrived at the car, then pushed me onto the backseat almost violently, earning some disapproving glances from Hutch. He really needed to have a talk with the guy about showing some damned respect.

The officer slammed the door shut next to me, even though we still needed to wait for Chris to get back to us. It took him several minutes to roll up behind with a SUV that was obviously the property of their organization, being the typical army-grade vehicle. I didn’t see any logos on it, but I only saw its front bumper and the bright lights shining right into my eyes, blinding me temporarily.

I flinched and turned towards the front seats, where the two cops were about to sit. The rookie was behind the wheel, so I could see the hateful gaze he regarded me with whenever he looked into the mirror. I had to bite my lips to keep myself from giving him stinging remarks. I wasn’t about to wear a seatbelt, either, since I was used to police driving extremely safely around the city, abiding by the laws of traffic. After a couple sharp turns, I said, fuck it, as I secured the belt. I wasn’t too keen on breaking my neck in a fucking cop car because of his reckless driving.

I thanked all the gods when I finally saw the small, lived down, two-story apartment complex, that I resided in, and what was in fact, a simple family home. It was a building worthy of a horror movie, barely standing, filthy, with odd noises coming from everywhere. Including the rooms, that I tended to call apartments. Made me feel slightly better about my living conditions.

One of my neighbors was a fifty-year-old whore, always screaming when she was getting fucked, really overselling it, to be honest, and the others were a couple of junkies, who I actually hadn’t seen in a couple of days. Perhaps I should send Hutch to check up on them? Nah, they were probably out until the building quieted down. Too much cop-traffic because of me.

Sorry, guys.

As soon as I was pulled out of the car, I looked at the two agents to see their reaction. They looked taken aback, but didn’t seem disgusted with what they saw. In their line of work, I suspected they had seen much-much worse, than a filthy house.

As soon as the front door opened with a loud creak, I could hear that Trisha was working. She must have been getting a great pounding, since even the walls were rocking, and soft dust fell off the ceiling. 

Wow. That intensity was rare. 

My cubby was at the end of the hallway. The second floor of the building was inaccessible, has been for ages, but that seemingly didn’t deter someone, that recently decided to brave the thermite-damaged, unsafe stairs. They got what they had coming, I had no doubt about that, since there was a new hole in the stairs that wasn’t there before.

The bright yellow police tape on my door was undisturbed and in a stark contrast with the trash and dirt that was everywhere in the hallway. We approached my door, not quietly enough. It caused the sex to abruptly stop. The door flung open a few moments later. Trisha pushed her painted face through, staring at our posse. She saw my company and the cuffs on my wrists, then gave me a pat on the shoulder.

“Oh, boo. I told you that you were too smart for your own good,” she told me as she gave me a small, sad smile. “You didn’t belong to a place like this.”

“Beggars can’t be choosers.” 

She barked out a laugh at that. “We sure can be, honey.” She put a clawed finger under my chin to lift it up. “Chin up, girl. It is not the end of the world for you.”

“But it is,” I insisted. “I suspect the police will be here for a while, but my clothes, that you like are all yours. I won’t need them where I’m going.” Her brown eyes lit up like I just gave her the best Christmas present ever. 

“I’ll wear them proudly.”

“Hey!” I heard a low, mildly angry growl from her room. “What the fuck are you doing? Get back here! I’m not paying you to gossip with your side-bitch.”

Despite the situation and his wording, I smiled. “Go on, don’t keep your... date waiting.”

She let go of my chin and ducked back into her abode, getting back to her task almost immediately. The rookie pushed me out of his way and raised his hand to the doorknob.

“Leave it, officer. We are not here for her,” Hutch warned him, before he could do anything. The rookie spun around, looking at Hutch over my shoulder. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Sir? That woman is a prostitute. Last time I checked, it was against the law.”

“You are correct. But we came here for a reason. I would rather not keep them here longer than necessary,” the captain told him, irritated, glancing back at the BSAA operatives, who just quietly observed the scene around them. “Let’s go,” he told me, pulling on my arm. He wanted to get this over with just as much as I did.

Hutch pushed the door open, careful not to disturb the police tape and flicked the light on. It was dim, but bright enough to see. A low meowl sounded as soon as he did this. 

“Mr. Paws!” I swiftly ducked under the tape, hurrying to my cat, a black and white, patchy, bright eyed animal, that was just as happy to see me as I was him. 

He was curled up on the sofa I called a bed, cozy on the blanket I used and must have reminded him of me. I sat down next to him and pulled him into my lap. He was purring like an engine a second later, pushing his nose up to mine.

“You... have a cat?” Hutch asked me, not trying to hide his smile and surprise. “You can barely take care of yourself, let alone a pet.”

“We are both strays. We found each other,” I told him, scratching the cat’s ear. “Cats are pretty good at self-care. He is a hunter, so he is better fed than I am. Oh, mind your steps!” I raised my voice suddenly, when the rest entered the room. “There are holes in the floor. I know where to step to avoid them, but you should keep an eye out.”

“Noted,” Valentine reacted, gracefully hopping over a hole the next second. Her partner followed.

“Where are the files?” Hutch got back on track. 

I pointed up to the loose panels of the fake ceiling. He was about to pull a chair under the spot, when the officer did it before him. He let the guy handle it.

“You know, I don’t understand something. Well, several somethings. Why did I personally have to come here? I could have just told you the location, and why couldn’t you pull the information from my computer? It’s right there.”

He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “I figured you would want to go... home before going to jail. As for the second; because we don’t know where your laptop is.”

“Excuse me? It was in my hands when your officers kicked the door in! How could they have misplaced a laptop? I mean, I’ve heard of evidence being filed to the wrong case, or whatever, but to disappear like that? Don’t you find that at least a bit worrying?” I demanded to know. “What would have happened if I decided not to print out those files? Are your tech guys even working on cracking it themselves?”

“They could not breach the encryption,” he told me quietly, almost ashamed. 

I laughed, despite myself. “All that thousands of dollars worth of computers, and they cannot even crack something, that they should already have access to.” He furrowed his brows, not understanding. “Your servers are in the building. All computers there have a direct connection to them, all of which, I needed to bypass from here. But they don’t. They are just incompetent.”

“It’s empty,” I heard the rookie say. “You sure, this is the spot?” he asked me.

“Yes. What’s going on, Hutch? First my laptop, now the redacted medical records... I’m sensing a pattern here.”

He didn’t say anything. He knew. He didn’t start this yesterday, after all. I could see, that his brain was working full-time in that skull of his, so I didn’t bother him, looking at the agents instead, looking for any signs on them, that they have been here. No, they were genuinely curious as their gazes observed everything in the hole, beginning with my cat. 

I stood up, taking Mr. Paws with me to introduce him to them. “He is friendly,” I assured them, when I arrived. “A little skittish, sometimes, but friendly. I think he was abused as a kitten. Just... no sudden movements and you’ll be fine,” I added. 

Valentine reached out to him and patted his head. He didn’t shy away from her, most likely because he felt safe with me. I was carrying him, and he trusted me unconditionally. 

She stepped closer to me, as if wanting to tell me a secret. “Did you know that man outside the station?” she asked me quietly.

“Oh, cool, I’m not the only one that thought that dude was extremely creepy. I’ve never seen him before.”

“What man?” Hutch asked. It was a small room, of course, he heard us.

“He was standing outside your police station when we were waiting. Tall, slender, wearing a suit and a hat. I couldn’t make out his features from that distance.”

“Neither could I,” I backed her statement up. Not, that she needed it. I doubted, that they would have questioned her words. “Am I in danger? Did I make myself a target?” I asked Hutch, absolutely terrified. “Did I glue a “Shoot me” sign onto my back?” 

Mr. Paws let out a painful yowl when I squeezed him a little too hard. I kissed the top of his head quickly to calm him down.

“Will you be able to get the files you found, if we let you use a computer at the station?” Chris asked me, as he, too petted my cat with his large hand. 

“Of course. Unless someone beat us to it and deleted everything already. If whoever took my laptop could crack my own encryption, they would have no trouble breaking the other. We are running out of time.”

“We will need the names of all the officers, that were present. They will need to be interrogated,” Chris told the captain, who nodded. 

“Sir, you cannot possibly be considering giving her access?” the rookie piped up again. Why was he here again? Just to annoy everyone? 

“This case is not a police matter anymore, Officer Molner,” Valentine informed him, to my biggest surprise. “We have discussed this on our way here and all evidence points towards this being more than what the police can handle. Especially now, knowing that your people mishandled valuable evidence.”

The rookie quickly opened his mouth to protest, but shut it the next second, defeated. “Yes, ma’am,” he said instead of a protest. Well, what do you know? He wasn’t as dumb as a rock.

“Are you sure, that they got everything you have printed out?” she turned to me.

“I’ll check. Can you uncuff me for those couple minutes?” I turned to Hutch, holding my cat. Mr. Paws didn’t understand why he was pointing a key at him, so he yowled at him, pushing himself closer to me. There was no way he could uncuff me with the cat in my hands, so I turned back to the woman. “Would you mind holding him for a little bit?” I didn’t wait for an answer, the cat was already right in front of her. She carefully took him, smiling.

“I’m more of a dog person,” she muttered.

“Me, too. But don’t let him hear you say that.” 

I was off the next second, meticulously searching for all the holes within the hole. Everything was disturbed, the police left no piece of furniture unturned. They pulled the drawers out, carelessly dumping the contents on the floor. They even disturbed my plants! I had two plants, and both were mishandled. Some leaves were missing, some petals, too. Do they care nothing about other people’s property? Monsters, all of them.

Despite hating the unsettling disturbance in my home, I had to admit, that they did a thorough job. 

“They found everything,” I said, when I finished my once-over. A second later, the cuffs were back, and so was my cat. 

“Then we have no further reason to stay here,” Chris told us. “We will gather our own team of experts and meet you back at the station tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” I asked back. I thought we were in a hurry.

“Our base is not nearby; it will take them a few hours to get here.” I nodded. “We will also need some space for our own equipment,” he addressed Hutch again. 

“I’ll prepare an office for you,” the captain agreed.

“Then see you tomorrow,” we were told before they both exited, carefully watching the tape. The woman gave me a kind smile before leaving. I returned it. Who knows when I’ll get to smile again?

I took a shaky, deep breath. This was it. My last minutes in a place I could call my own. Grody and broken, it was still mine, still better than living under a bridge, like I did for a month or so before meeting the junkie couple next door. They got me this, and in return, I stole some electricity and internet for us from the nearby building. I wasn’t proud of having to do this, but I did what I had to. I never would have even thought about taking advantage of someone like this, had my situation been different.

I wasn’t moving from my spot for what seemed like an eternity. I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t want to go to jail and abandon Mr. Paws, like his previous owners.

“Officer, wait in the car,” Jeremiah said, when he realized that tears were flowing down my cheeks. The guy didn’t even bother arguing anymore, just ducked under the tape and was gone in an instant. Hutch pulled me into a hug when his footsteps quieted down.

I broke down, sobbing. The reality had finally dawned on me. That I’m a criminal. That I will soon end up in jail for many years, essentially forfeiting my youth. And for what? A mystery unsolved? 

Was this really worth it?

He softly, comfortingly stroked my back with a hand as I cried into his chest. “I’m scared.”

“I know. Maybe the BSAA will help you, once they realize how much work you have done. Maybe they can persuade the judge to lower the sentence by many years,” he tried soothing my nerves by saying what he thought I needed and wanted to hear. It didn’t help. 

“I’m sorry, J.” I hadn’t called him J in so many years. “You’ve done so much for me after the death of my parents, keeping me alive until I learnt to stand on my own. I stayed away from all the vices, keeping to myself, becoming all but a shadow. Quick on my feet, quiet like a cat. You still ended up arresting me.”

“I should have taken better care of you,” he murmured into my hair. “You’ve always been like a daughter to me. More so, than Mark’s fiancé could ever be.”

“But they are happy,” I insisted.

“He was happier with you.”

“I broke that night in the shed. I broke, and nothing can fix me. I would have only dragged him down with me. I do miss him.” I sniffled and wiped my nose with the sleeve of my shirt. Even my cat knew that I was sad, since he was very insistent on purring against my skin. I slowly pulled away from Hutch, trying to steady myself, pull myself together. 

“He misses you, too, you know.”

“He shouldn’t. He found someone better,” I muttered. 

The hardest thing I had to do after their death was to break up with Mark, when I was still in love with him. I will never not love him, I think. He was by me, when Vincent disappeared, supporting me every minute of our relationship. And to think that it all started with a dare... We were playing truth or dare with a group of friends. He chose dare and kissed me on the mouth, even though it was never specified where he needed to kiss someone. He chose me and my mouth. I did have a crush on him, so I was ecstatic when he did it.

But that was a long time ago. We were eleven. We’re over twice that now. How fast time went by...

He’s the owner of a small business in the city, happy, about to be a dad in a couple months. Me? I’m just a lowly criminal, being arrested by his father. 

Life’s a bitch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for getting this far and I hope you're enjoying the story so far. ^^,


	4. Hackers' Dance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I wrote in the tags, everything regarding hacking and computer science is entirely fictional. I am well aware, that it's nothing like this in real life, but let's be honest, this is a video game's reality. It's only fair to play by their rules. ;)

Hutch gave me a few minutes to pull myself together, then put a heavy hand on my shoulder. 

“It will be alright, you’ll see,” he tried pouring some hope into me. Emphasis on tried. I don’t think anything could have done that at the moment. 

“I doubt that,” I whispered and kissed the top of Mr. Paws’ head. He meowed at me like he was satisfied. “Can you find him a home? I don’t want him to follow my example and end up all alone in a place he doesn’t know.”

“I’ll take care of him,” he assured me. I believed him, and that was all I needed. “Bring him with us, I’ll take him home for tonight.”

I smiled at him. “Thank you.” The cat kept purring, sometimes meowing up at me, as I exited the building. I turned him towards myself. “You will be staying with him, okay? He is a good man. Kind. He will love you and take care of you the way I should have.” He didn’t understand a word I was saying, but he must have agreed, since he didn’t shy back from Hutch’s touch.

The captain opened the door for me, carefully helping me sit down without bumping my head. My cat got himself comfortable on my lap almost immediately, doing kitty biscuits on my thighs. That was the reason I decided to call him Mr. Paws. He really enjoyed doing that from the moment I met him.

I will miss him dearly, but it will be worse for him. He cannot understand where I’m going, he only understands that after today, he is not going to see me again. He will wake up in Hutch’s home, expecting to find me, to greet me with his signature yowl, but I will never show up. He will feel abandoned once more. The only thing that makes me feel better is that I know he will be in good hands with J. The rest of his life will be lived comfortably, without needing to hunt for food. There will be plenty given to him. Maybe, in a couple months, he won’t even miss me. 

No one will.

I smiled down at him, memorizing every small detail about him on our way back to the police station. It was dark already by the time we got back, and the traffic was noticeably less intense, less crowded than before. I glanced at the spot where that mysterious man stood earlier. Unsurprisingly, it was empty. That only made me more worried.

I was ushered in through the front door, being met with the same group of officers playing the same card game, completely undisturbed, not even trying to pretend that they were supposed to be working. The presence of Mr. Paws earned me some odd glances, but no one commented. Not even the rookie that accompanied us. He finally realized that no one gave a shit about his opinion, so he kept his mouth shut. 

He was the one that took me back to the cells, all but throwing me inside once the cuffs were off. I barely managed to keep my balance and avoided faceplanting onto the floor. I gave him an annoyed stare, scowling at him. What the hell was his problem with me? 

Hutch broke off from us before, to secure a carrier for Mr. Paws. He didn’t want to risk the seating of his car in case the cat decided to claw at the fabric… or, well, pee or shit on it. 

I swear, that cat knew what was happening, when Hutch arrived with the carrier. He was yowling at me, staring up at me with his emerald eyes, giving me his best lost puppy expression.

“You will be okay,” I assured him, crying again, then kissed the top of his head. He stared back at me, as if asking ‘Will _you_ be okay?’ 

I shook my head, earning another pained, elongated yowl. He didn’t fight Hutch as he was put in the carrier, though. He just wailed, staring right at me. God, I had no idea saying goodbye to him will be this hard.

“Good night, Kimberly. I’ll be here tomorrow morning,” Jeremiah told me as he closed the small lid to prevent my cat from leaping out. 

“Good night, J.”

He gave me another smile before heading home for the night to rest. Goodness knows, he could use it. I never understood how he managed to have a family and do this demanding job. I wouldn’t have been able to do this. 

I’ll likely never do anything that matters, so wondering about the future didn’t keep me up at night.

They arrested a group of drunk women an hour or so after my return, putting them together into the same cell. _They_ kept me up at night! They were so damn chatty! And just why, why the fuck would anyone decide it is a good idea to share how their partner trims downstairs? How does manscaping even come up in a conversation? 

Drunk people are weird.

By the end of the second hour, I swore, I’d start bashing my head against the wall if they didn’t stop. I didn’t give a fuck about their gross mating rituals, that they kept going on about, sparing no details, but I was forced to listen to them yammer about it until they all eventually drifted to sleep. I treasured the silence I was enveloped in, and it was already around midnight. Maybe even later than that. 

I couldn’t rest for long, though. Hurried, heavy footsteps approached the jail, loud enough to shake me awake, out of my peaceful slumber. I grumbled as I sat up, wiping my eyes, yawning. I didn’t recognize any of the footsteps, probably because they were usually carefree, taking their time to walk. The cops were in a hurry this time. 

Naturally, they needed to turn the lights on in the corridor, making it harder for me to see anything until my eyes adapted to the light. Two officers stopped before my cell, one clumsily fumbling with the keys, the other was the rookie from before. I decided to stand up, blinking sleep out of my eyes.

“What’s going on?” I asked, mid-yawn. 

“We need your help,” the rookie told me hurriedly, his previously patronizing tone was gone. He pushed my cell door open. “Come on,” he told me quickly, ushering me in between the two of them. 

“Again, what’s going on? Why do you need my help of all people?”

“Someone’s breaking into our servers. You were right before; our tech guys are incompetent. They’ve been trying to stop the hack for hours, but none of them made any headway.” He quickly grabbed my arm as we hurried past the other cell, turning me back to himself. “I’m taking a huge risk by letting you out, unauthorized, so do your fucking best, you hear?”

“I will. But first, you need to understand, that whoever is doing this has been doing it for hours now, I might not be able to catch up to them even with my best. I can try to stop them, but depending on their equipment, even that might not work.” I answered truthfully, earning an impatient sound from him. “And I’ll need some coffee. I’m going to be up all night.”

“Black?” he asked my preference, to my biggest surprise. 

“With milk and a touch of sugar.” He rolled his eyes but didn’t argue. He must have been tired, too. 

“Get going, then. Follow the officer and I’ll get you your coffee.” He let go of my arm, so I quickened my steps, doing what he told me to do. 

I took a look at the drunkards in passing. They were all out, snoring, some even drooling on their friends that they used as pillows. Granted, some of them had breasts that would function well as pillows. I suddenly wished mine were slightly bigger.

The women were sprawled over each other, reminiscent of renaissance-era paintings with their sheer ridiculousness and absurdity of their positions. Some of them are going to experience extreme back-pain next morning, adding to the guaranteed hangover. They will be absolutely miserable. I didn’t pity them. It’s their own damn fault for not knowing when to stop.

I followed the nameless officer to the office area, where people were anxiously sitting around, watching who I assumed were their tech experts. Two middle-aged guys, literally sweating their asses off as they violently mashed the keyboards in front of them. I could glean some information about their progress as I looked at the screens. It was disheartening. They barely managed to dent the walls. Someone can become an admin without learning the depths of hacking, so I didn’t blame them for not knowing what to do. They didn’t specialize in it; I did.

“Let me do this,” I patted one of them on the shoulder. One look at me was enough for him to ignore me. He snorted. “I’m here, because I already cracked it once. Now let me help you stop it. You both are doing it wrong.”

I was awarded with another snort, but from the other guy this time. The officer that led me there came to my rescue. “Give up your seat, Bols,” he told the closest guy, poking him in the shoulder. “Captain’s orders.”

“The captain isn’t even here, man! I’m not going to be responsible for the damage she could cause.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I muttered and found myself an empty desk. The computer on it wasn’t even password-protected, so I could get started immediately after turning it on.

I got to work, trying to determine where the hacker was. Each individual computer has a number that is used to identify it. All are unique, and the admins should have access to these right off the bat. I doubted, that they would give them up, so I hijacked their usernames and dropped one of them out of the system, shutting down their hacking attempt. It was the second guy’s, and he cursed wildly upon being thrown out of the system. I couldn’t help it; that user could only be logged in on one of the computers. 

I really began shortly after; trying to comb through the id numbers of the building’s computers, shutting out the other admin, too, to narrow it down. He cursed, as well, and turned to me knowingly. I promptly ignored him.

I got my large cup of coffee within five minutes, still steaming hot. 

“Thank you,” I told the rookie, who decided to watch my every move like a hawk, sitting nearby. I didn’t mind. He didn’t try to take my attention away from the work, so he was good in my book. Not like the two admins, who were all but screaming at me. “Can you get them out of here, please?” I turned to the officer. 

“You heard her,” he turned to them. “Out.” Oh, so he was rude to everyone, and not just me. That was a relief. The two guys gave me some serious stink-eye as they were ushered out of the office space by two other officers. “How long is this going to take?”

“I’m trying to find them,” I answered without looking away from the screen. “They are in the building, that much I know already, but not using a police-owned computer to work. The computer ids don’t match any the admins have on record. That’s why I kicked them out of the system; I needed to narrow the possibilities down.” I drank some coffee. It was perfect. “How big is this building exactly?” I asked him suddenly.

“Why?”

“Because I need you to search the entirety of the station, from basement to the rooftop, looking for computers, smartphones, tablets, any kinds of tech that is in a place where it shouldn’t be. I’m getting the sense, that this is an automated process.”

“So you think someone came in here, left a piece of tech lying about, that began hacking into our servers without any input from the culprit?” he asked me skeptically. I nodded.

“Essentially, yes.”

He sighed. “I’m not leaving you alone, but I’ll see what I can do.” He got off the table he was sitting on and approached the rest of the officers, who were very bad at masking that they were paying attention.

They scattered soon, with Molner getting back to me, staying true to his word. He really didn’t trust me. 

I began the race against the other hacking attempt, that was nearly at the end already. I needed almost two days to do it with shitty internet, from my hole; it was a much faster process here. I knew, that I wouldn’t be able to catch up, not when they had hours on me, but I didn’t give up. Instead of running my own hack, I began building walls for it to run into. To slow it down at least a little bit. 

It adapted to the game I was playing, bypassing everything I threw at it. So I was wrong. It was not automated at all. No pre-written code is that precise. Shit.

Within the next couple hours, it became a dance. I stepped, they followed. They made a move, I countered them. I was at my wits end, especially since the officers came up empty-handed in their search. No tech, nor person was out of place.

It was six in the morning when the night shift was over, and the day shift’s officers arrived. The rookie was yawning behind me, but was adamant in staying, watching me watch the screen. Waiting along with me for my code to do its work. 

It was beyond frustrating, that no matter what I did, it wasn’t enough to stop them.

After seven, they broke through the encryption, rapidly skimming through the files. I was logged in as an admin, so I could counter their commands to delete certain files, even if I could not stop them from copying those. But that was fine. I only needed to make sure every data on the servers remained unchanged. That, I could do. 

“What is happening here?” I heard Valentine’s voice from the entrance to the offices. I was the first person she saw upon entry, so she was right to be curious.

“Someone’s breaking into our database,” the rookie told her, yawning. “And it isn’t her. She’s trying to stop them.”

“They’re already in,” I told him. “I’m trying to protect the files,” I informed them, still staring at the screen as my makeshift console program ran on it. 

I was immersed in the information it was relaying to me, carefully reading the lines. I could do nothing anymore, since no more input was needed from me at the moment. I sat back and drank the remainder of my coffee. It had cooled down hours ago. Doesn’t matter. Coffee is coffee, no matter the temperature.

“Why are you still here? Your shift ended three hours ago,” I turned to the rookie, who was in the process of another yawn. 

“Someone needs to watch you.”

I raised an eyebrow at this and gestured towards the other officers, who were also cautiously watching my every move. “The BSAA is here, too, so I'm a little bit outnumbered. I’m not stupid enough to do anything... unlawful.” And Hutch was among these people. Sometimes. He was absent for most, since he had a job he needed to do.

He gave me a smile. “You are not stupid at all.”

I would have choked on the coffee, had I still had any. I just blinked at him. “Was that a compliment? You really should get some sleep, officer. You are speaking nonsense.” 

“Yeah, you are right,” he replied as he hopped down from the desk. He was smiling, though. I realized that he was quite handsome when he smiled. He was still rude, though, since he didn’t even say goodbye before leaving.

I was left alone for about half an hour. I was watching the program run, pushing the other intruder out little piece by piece. It will take some time, but I was definitely on the right track.

My elbows were up on the desk and my fingers were steepled under my chin when a plate was put down next to the keyboard. The hand was larger than Hutch’s, but familiar nonetheless. I looked up at the BSAA operative, then back down to the plate. There were sandwiches on it. I hadn’t even noticed that I went without breakfast.

“Thank you, but I’m fine. I’m used to skipping meals. It’s fine,” I assured him. 

“It shouldn’t be. Eat,” he insisted before pulling a chair next to mine and plopping down on it. I yawned, failing at hiding it. “How long have you been doing this?”

I glanced at the clock on the wall. “For about six hours now,” I answered and picked a sandwich off the plate. It was full of many vegetables, cheese, and salami, and it certainly didn’t look like it’s from one of the vending machines. “Where did you get this?” I asked him with a full mouth. He just smiled.

“Captain Hutch. He was on his way here when your lawyer arrived and threw a smaller fit over your involvement with this morning’s event. He says, that this is further incriminating you and will be used against you at court.”

I shrugged nonchalantly. I stopped caring by that point. “Probably. I don’t care anymore. I’m just trying to stop this asshole from deleting the files they are looking for.”

“You are already in?” he asked me, surprised.

“Oh, I got in hours ago. Stopping the other person is what’s hard. They are trying to delete files. I need to be on my toes to counter every move they make. It’s like I’m the hunting cat and they are the crafty, elusive mouse. They’re good.”

“Are you better?”

“No. They got in and got the files they were looking for. All I can do now, is try to prevent the deletion of these files. I constantly have to override their commands, but simultaneously try to push them out of the police’s system. It’s not nearly as easy as it sounds; I’ve never done anything like this.” 

“Would better hardware help you? We have a mobile command center outside, that is full of cutting-edge technology.”

I chewed on the sandwich and shook my head. “I cannot migrate the data and this code without losing progress. This computer needs to be online for the process. It isn’t something, that can be restarted, and it takes time.”

His brown eyes gazed at the screen, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. He soon gave up and put a large hand on my shoulder. “Then keep up the good work,” he told me as he got up, leaving me alone once more. He wasn’t far, though, talking to his own people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you for reading and for the kudos! Your thoughts are always appreciated as comments, too, so don't be shy. ;)


	5. Monster in Disguise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The work at the Police Department continues, with Kimberly receiving some further assistance from the BSAA.

I ate the second sandwich as well, just finishing it when I was approached by a man I had never seen before. He was dressed well, like a businessman, wearing a white shirt with a black tie around his neck. His shirt was well-ironed, there were no wrinkles on it. He was an older man, around Hutch’s age, but still in great shape. Lean body, well-kept hair and skin, without even a hint of stubble on his face. I didn’t find him handsome, but he was wearing a wedding ring, so someone must have. 

“My name is Edmond Holden,” he introduced himself as he arrived next to me with J in tow, not even offering his hand for a handshake. The latter man looked nervous for some reason. “I have been appointed to you as your lawyer. And as your lawyer, it is my duty to ask you to stop whatever you are doing. This activity can only hurt your cause, which is already... less than satisfactory, as it is.”

“That’s fine. This is more important right now,” I told him, then nearly choked on the sandwich, as I was still chewing it when I spoke. “Something’s happening,” I turned to the captain.

It was new. It was like a virus, but wasn’t. I didn’t know what it was, but it was eating itself into the entire database, completely bypassing everything I did in the last couple hours. How?

I began writing new commands, trying to work out how they got into the servers without me noticing. It soon became apparent, that I will never be able to stop whatever this was from the computer I was using. Mostly because it ended up overheating and shut down. 

“Shit!” I cursed and pushed myself away from the desk, hurriedly approaching Chris to take him up on his offer. “Does the offer still stand? I am in desperate need of that technology you mentioned.”

He nodded quickly. “Come with me.” I wanted to, but a strong hand on my bicep was not allowing me. I expected to find an officer holding me back, but it was the lawyer. I wouldn’t have guessed, that he was that strong. Or more like I was way too weak compared to everyone. 

He was holding me with an iron grip that surprised everyone that witnessed this. He gave me a furious look. “You are digging your own grave, Kimberly, by continuing to assist them.” It sounded ominous and more than slightly alarming. It instantly made me think of the man I saw last evening. He was around the same height, and definitely the same style.

This notion wasn’t lost on the BSAA agent, either, since he took an almost protective step closer to me. “She is assisting our organization and this city’s police. Let go of her.”

The man only squeezed tighter. It hurt. “Hey, I’m a fragile woman! Don’t make me kick you in your crown jewels, man!” I insisted, pulling on my arm. 

I was prepared to knee him in the groin. He wasn’t the first to do this to me. There are certain disadvantages of living on the street as a young woman... namely that perverts know no boundaries. I’ve been lucky so far, that there were only attempts at raping me and none succeeded.

Holden noticed that everyone was watching us, so he inclined his head, slowly drawing his hand back from me. I rubbed the spot the was grabbing, trying to soothe it, while narrowing my eyes at him briefly, before turning back to Chris. He looked as suspicious of the man as I was feeling. Good, at least we were on the same page.

“We need to hurry,” I told him quickly. He exchanged a quick glance with his partner, who knew what he wanted even without saying a word and nodded, standing up from the table she was sitting at.

“In the meantime, I would like to talk to you about what the BSAA could do to help her case,” she said as she confidently approached us. 

I didn’t wait for the man’s reaction, just followed her partner without bothering to look at him again. 

The parking lot outside was unusually full, mostly because of all the military vehicles occupying most spaces. There were at least ten more agents loitering outside, having a sparring match to keep themselves occupied. I earned some curious glances, but they all knew better than to ask questions. I had a feeling that Chris and Valentine outranked all of them. 

We approached one of the two armored trucks and he all but tore the door open. The lone guy inside put a hand over his heart. “Captain, you scared me.” So I was right. He did outrank all of them. 

The other agent was not much older than me, wearing an earpiece with a mic attached to it. Mission control, perhaps? Yes, probably. 

His brown eyes let his curiosity towards me through, not bothering to hide his critical gaze as he looked me up and down. Confused, is what he looked like by the end. I smiled at him. It confused him even more.

“This is our own tech expert, Jonathan Wilks, he will be helping you with this task,” Chris turned to me. “She is Kimberly Gowen, the...” He didn’t get to say anything else, the guy was already out of his chair, shaking my hand I never even offered.

“Yes, the brilliant mind that cracked the police database like it was a skull,” he told me, enthusiastically shaking my entire arm. As in up and down. Continuously, without missing a beat. 

“I’m not sure I would be able to crack anyone’s skull, but... Thank you?” I wasn’t sure if I should be thanking him, but I did.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re small,” he told me before ruffling my hair. What the fuck?

He wasn’t even much taller than me. He was more muscular, though. I suspected some sort of training was required for every agent, regardless of specialization.

I looked at his captain for support, but he was just smiling at this exchange. It was up to me, then.

“Listen, Jonathan, was it?” He nodded, still gripping my hand tightly. “I’m in a bit of a hurry here, so I would appreciate if I was allowed to get back to work.”

“Oh, shit. Of course, come, sit. What do you need?” Without further ado, he pulled me to his chair, pushing me down by my shoulders.

“Have fun, kids. And notify me if you get anywhere,” Chris told us with a small smile playing on his lips. 

“Sir, before you go,” I called out to him quickly. “Would you please have Hutch run a background check on my lawyer? I don’t trust him.”

“Way ahead of you on that, Kimberly. The results should be back in an hour or so.”

“Thank you,” I told him quickly, and turned to Jonathan. 

I had his permission to do whatever was needed, so I got to work that instant. I multitasked, telling him what I was doing earlier and attempting to stop this virus at the same time. He was eating up my words, wide-eyed and asking smart questions to understand it better. By the end of the hour, we were working together, thinking of the problem loudly. 

As his captain predicted, the results of the background check came back. He was legit, but weirdly, not from the city. Apparently, he had just moved in a couple weeks ago and this is his first local case. Why didn’t he act like a lawyer, then? And why was I so creeped out by him?

I brushed his files aside and focused on the task at hand. Jonathan and I had what we needed by noon and the program was running by itself, completely eradicating the virus and restoring everything that was damaged from the back-up servers that were intact. It would be a lengthy process, so we took a break, talking about many things that interested us. He was easy to talk to and we shared interests. Even had the same taste in music. 

As suspected, it wouldn’t last for long. I knew that I would likely be getting transferred to the real prison of the city soon. I couldn’t stay locked up at the PD forever. 

Around 1pm the door of the truck opened, Chris peeking through. “You two are in a good mood. Does that mean you were successful?”

“Partially. We stopped the attack on the servers and backed the necessary files into this bad boy,” I tapped on the computer in front of me. “You will have all the information I was able to dig up.”

“Why does this count as a partial success?”

“Because I still have no idea how they got in and who they are. No traces of them were left for us to follow.”

“We have the information, so our investigation can continue. That is what matters.”

“But they have the information, too. And I have no doubt about them being aware of the BSAA’s presence. You need to plan and act fast, if there is anything to be done,” I insisted, getting up from the chair. 

As I did, I heard someone clear their throat behind him. He was a large man and he cracked the door open just wide enough to see through, so I didn’t know who it was. No one, that he liked, by the frown on his face. 

“I’m sorry,” he told me genuinely enough. I didn’t know what he was sorry for, so I just stared at him. “They are transferring you to the local prison.”

I sighed and gave him a sad smile. “I knew that they would, sooner or later.” I turned back to the tech guy. “Thank you for the help. And the talk. It’s been a while since I could talk to anyone this freely.”

He just nodded, not knowing what to say. I saw a series of emotions playing on his face, but none stayed for long. He did follow me when I started towards his captain, who backed away from the truck, freeing the path for me.

Two heavily armed guards were already waiting for me, along with my impatient lawyer, who was standing right next to them with his arms crossed above his chest. The guards tensed up when they saw me emerge from the truck, as if I was the most dangerous person alive. They were both twice my size, so their reaction was unwarranted. They could easily crush me with a hand if they wanted to. They were even more muscular than Chris. And he was already pretty jacked.

Hutch was there, as expected, still looking like a mess. Even more so, than yesterday. He must not have gotten much sleep last night. He started for me as soon as I looked at him. 

“I’m sorry,” he began with a hurried, hushed voice. “I tried delaying them, but the chief is already breathing down my neck and I couldn’t convince him to keep you here for any longer.”

I wanted to hug him so badly. I had a feeling it would be a bad idea, considering the company around us. “It was bound to happen. Thank you for helping me, even after I proved to be nothing but a disappointment.”

“Disappointment?” he asked me, disbelief filling his voice. I nodded meekly, sadly smiling and averted my gaze. That was the worst of it; knowing that after all he had done for me, I still couldn’t live up to his expectations, taking a turn for the worse instead of the better. “I should be disappointed, yes, but I’m not. The last couple years haven’t been easy for you, but it all led you here, to this point. You just helped an important international organization with an investigation that they could not have even begun without you. I’m certain, that you will be a free woman in no time.” He sounded like he believed that.

I smiled at him. “I would like that.”

Our conversation was cut short when the two guards approached us, not so gently pushing J out of the way. I narrowed my eyes at him, while his friend took my arms and cuffed those together behind my back, tighter than was necessary. Just how dangerous did they think I was? 

I bit back a sarcastic comment about their unnecessary show of power and let it happen. They did not seem to be in a good mood, and I would rather they not rearrange my face with their fists. 

“Can’t we do something, captain?” I heard Jonathan whisper to Chris. “She would be a great asset to us.”

“I know. Jill is working on it,” the man answered, also whispering. They were not far from me, so I could hear them. I decided not to react, but was hoping that they would be able to help me. If they needed to conscript me into the BSAA to get me out of jail, then by all means; I would join them in a heartbeat. 

The man behind me began pushing on my back, wanting me to move forward, so I did, frowning back at him. We were in the parking lot, and the armored truck, that people usually use to transport a shitload of money was parked at the entrance of it. Awful lot of security for someone like me. They were overestimating my physical capabilities.

I could feel all eyes on me as I made my walk of shame, but I didn’t let my discomfort show. I walked with hurried footsteps and straightened back. As much as I could, anyways, since the guard was still pushing me forward, up until we arrived to their truck with my lawyer in tow. The other armed man opened the heavy, armored doors before me, gesturing inside with a small nod of his head.

“Get in,” he told me in a heavily accented voice. Russian, maybe? 

I didn’t protest, just carefully stepped up and sat down on the bench. To my biggest surprise, Holden, my lawyer, followed suit, taking a seat opposite of me. Do lawyers accompany their charges like this? Do they travel with them to their prison? I was not aware. 

I could smile at Jeremiah once more before the doors closed. He returned it with a small, encouraging nod. I ended up staring at the heavy doors from almost pitch-black. There were two small windows on the doors, letting some light in, but not nearly enough to be comfortable.

I sighed when I heard the front doors close and the engine rev up. We were off in less than a minute, heading to the nearby prison facility. 

Within the first two minutes, my lawyer decided to whip out a cigarette and light it up. In an airtight, small space. “Are you allowed to do that in here?” I asked him, just barely keeping myself from coughing. The smoke filled the air almost instantly. 

“I’m allowed to do whatever I wish to do. To whomever I wish to do it to.” 

What the fuck does that mean?

I suspiciously narrowed my eyes at him, but I could not find my voice to ask further questions. I was nearly choking on the smoke; I couldn’t breathe better than a fish on ground. It had no effect on him, he just kept puffing it, uninterested in and unfazed by my obvious struggles. 

I desperately tried calling out to the two guards, both of whom I could see through the glass between their compartment and ours, but as soon as I struggled to stand, he was right in front of me, pushing me down on my butt. The dim light made him more intimidating than he was before, emphasizing his features, that were made even more unsettling when he grinned at me, mere inches from my face. He grabbed my chin, guiding my gaze to him unnecessarily, because I was already staring at him. Slowly suffocating.

Judging by his expression, it was deliberate. But how was he not affected?

“You are a smart woman, Kimberly,” he said. I could swear his voice sounded different, but maybe that was because of my ringing ears. My brain was demanding oxygen I couldn’t give it, screaming at me, slowly darkening my vision. “Yet you weren’t smart enough to realize when to stop looking for your brother. This could all have been avoided if you decided not to meddle with affairs that are way out of your league.” He suddenly got a hand behind my head and pushed his fingers through my hair, grabbing it painfully. His grin turned into a scowl. “You jeopardized an operation that has been working for many decades. Do you have any idea how much this action of yours cost us? You brought the fucking BSAA here to breathe down our necks,” he snarled at me. “But that’s fine. We still have days to have fun together. I’m wondering how much of your genetic material I will be able to put to use. Your brother’s was... fascinating.” 

I opened my mouth to speak, but I wasn’t capable anymore. The world was quickly blackening around me, he was the only thing I could still see clearly. Mostly because of the red eyes, that were staring back at me, peering straight into my soul. His facial features were suddenly different, as well. 

Was I going insane? Did I finally snap and lose my mind?

“I will leave them a little present,” he continued his train of thought, then chuckled as he pulled on my hair again. “Or maybe many little presents. I’ve always liked puzzles. Do you think they would be able to put you back together? There won’t be much left when I’m done playing with you.”

I growled at him. That was about the only sound I could make. He found it amusing, judging by the laugh he barked out. At least one of us was having a great time.

“You know, you might be right. You would be such a waste of resources if I just killed you outright. You are much more valuable to the company alive.” He turned my head to the right, then left to observe me. 

I couldn’t even see anymore. He was still monologuing like a typical movie villain, but his voice was muffled, out of focus. I gave in to the call of darkness a few seconds later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are getting heated, as the villain of the story made an early appearance. Or did he? ;)


	6. Released and Ready to Leave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kimberly wakes up wherever she was taken and tries to find a way out in the short time she has.

I woke up to sirens screaming all around me and a monotonous, mechanical voice saying something. I took a deep breath as my eyes snapped open. Tubes were jammed down my throat to help me breathe in that glass cylindrical tank that I was floating in. I attempted to bring a hand up to rip those out reflexively, but immediately realized that the tank was filled with some sort of mucous liquid. It wasn’t water; its density and feel were different, but I would have drowned in it if I ripped the tubes out.

The liquid was thick enough to obscure my surroundings, but that didn’t deter me from trying to turn around. I managed to turn right a little bit before sharp pain shot through my abdomen, making me swallow down a scream. I looked down at source of the pain and noticed another tube affixed to my naked body that was littered with numerous cuts and bruises. There was only one tube, though, and that was the only that hurt when I touched the skin near it. 

The room around me was coated in red from the emergency light that flickered to life as the mechanical voice kept droning on. I even heard some muffled screams that died down almost instantly. Not all of them sounded human; there was an animalistic roar amongst them, that I couldn’t identify. Everything was filtered through the thick glass and liquid, so I had absolutely no idea what was going on. I couldn’t even breathe on my own and couldn’t move! 

I was held up by more plastic tubes that were secured underneath my armpits, but my legs were free to kick around, not touching the bottom of the tank. I didn’t dare move, since I wasn’t planning on bleeding out. My previous action caused some of my blood to seep through the crack between my flesh and the tube that was sticking out of it. I didn’t know how deep it went and I didn’t want to find out. Some things are better left undisturbed, as I was forced to learn.

Perhaps I shouldn’t have poked the hornet’s nest without wearing protective clothing. Or, you know, at all. 

It got me into a secret laboratory of a shady company, with my life on the line. And to think that this was only supposed to give me answers about my little brother’s disappearance... I couldn’t have dreamt that something like this would happen; that I would end up captured and experimented on. 

I had been awake before, though the details were more than a little hazy. I remembered surgical lights above my head, white gloved hands holding scalpels and other surgical tools, cutting and prodding into me. They used anesthetics on me, but the amount they needed to administer to keep me from screaming grew exponentially. In the end, they let me scream my lungs out, because at least that way I would live. If they used more chemicals on me, my body would have given out midway through the surgery. It did that anyways, but they could bring me back with a well-administered adrenalin shot into my exposed heart. 

I didn’t know why they insisted on keeping me alive. Or why he insisted; the man that was supposed to be my lawyer. Whoever did that background check on him should lose their job immediately. This little oversight of theirs might have just cost me my life.

I heard gunshots in the distance. I was hoping it was the BSAA or any other authorities finally arriving to the scene, but that would mean that I spent days in this place. Has it been that long? I kept drifting in and out of consciousness, so my sense of time was jumbled, but that still seemed unlikely. Two days at most, perhaps?

But my scars... Most scars on my body were healed already or sewn together at the very least. That alone indicates that weeks went by. I wondered whether they realized that I never arrived at the prison. Was Hutch looking for me? Did he spend his nights sleepless, worrying about me? More than likely. 

How could I get out? I needed to find him and show him that I was still alive. For now.

The glass around me was many inches thick, I would not have been able to dent it, let alone break it. Especially with my almost nonexistent strength. I’d never been strong, but at that moment, floating freely in that confined space, I felt physically weaker than ever before. What they did to my body took a toll on me, but thankfully I remained as perceptive as ever.

There was a lot of shouting outside my tank. I saw only the outlines of what I presumed were machines, so I presumed they were just outside this room, out of my reach. This theory turned out to be right when a door slammed open behind me and whoever barged in began shooting at something, blindly. It was a man, getting jumped by a ferocious beast, judging by his scream and the animal’s growl. He wasn’t alone, though, as there were series of shots that were spent at the same time, trying to hit a possibly moving target. 

Their aiming was seriously off, when multiple shots went wide, many of those going through my tank, one grazing my leg and another burrowing inside my body near my hip, making me scream in agony. My voice came out in gurgles, bubbles of air escaping my lips, nothing more, as my throat was still filled with the tube.

The mucous liquid began pouring through the bullet holes, draining the tank rapidly and thanks to the pressure building up, small fractures ran around the glass, starting at the holes. I would only need a small kick to get myself out, but I wasn’t brave enough to do it.

Whatever those men were fighting was still there, soaking up their bullets like a sponge. It must have been, since they were still shooting and the more the liquid drained away from around me, the clearer I heard everything. I needed to tilt my head to left then right to get it out of my ears. It was refreshing. I managed to find a small amount of joy even in such agonizing circumstances. 

I looked down at the hole the bullet left as it flew through me and began panicking. There was a lot of blood coming out of it. It was enough to slowly color the liquid blood red. 

How the hell am I going to get out of this alive?

The beast behind me roared in anger; it was a sound that rattled me to the bones. I had never heard such a terrifying cry for help and never wanted to ever again. It took minutes of constant shooting and possibly many lives, but the beast finally collapsed to the ground with a loud thud. I chose this moment to slowly pull the tubes out of myself, beginning with the one that helped me breathe. I had no use for it anymore. Carefully, going inch-by-inch, I pulled it, making myself gag multiple times. I didn’t care. I just wanted it out. I wanted to be able to swallow, to wet my sore throat. Within a minute, I could. Breathing wasn’t easy at first, and it hurt like hell, but it was still better than the alternative. 

I unwillingly grabbed the remaining tube and did my best to swallow my cry of pain. I was blinking tears out of my eyes, quietly crying after only managing to pull about an inch of it out. 

“What the fuck?!” I screamed again, this time in surprise, when the remaining armed man spoke behind me, startling me. I spun around, screaming even more as the tube got twisted inside me. “How the hell are you still alive?” he wondered, not hiding his surprise as he trained his gun on me. Then he put a finger to the earpiece he was wearing. “Sir, she lives. Your orders?”

I couldn’t hear the answer, mostly because of my sobbing that turned to vicious cursing as I had had enough and ripped the tube out as it was, suddenly feeling like it was the only thing keeping my insides in their place. I believed I just gutted myself in my attempt to free myself.

“Roger that,” he told whoever was on the other side of that line and prepared to shoot me when out of the darkness behind him, a large shape leapt into the air to pounce on him. 

I screamed again, as was becoming a habit of mine, despite the protest of my sore throat, when I identified the beast that ripped into the man from behind, biting through his neck with ease. I instinctively backed into the cold glass, the sensation of its temperature on my bare skin sending shivers down my spine as my mind struggled to make sense of what I was seeing. It was built like a tiger or any bigger feline, only furless and even bigger, but it wasn’t a tiger. Its face was dog-like with a protruding snout and large, snake-like lime green eyes with pupils that were slit in the middle. 

The man was already limp in its grasp, his now lifeless eyes still peering into my own until the beast gnawed on his neck, bisecting his body completely. I watched the head fall to the floor and roll a couple feet away from the rest of the body. I yelped, already feeling bile burning the back of my throat, and planted myself firmly against the glass, holding my bleeding wounds. 

Its muscular form was intimidating even from this distance. It was bigger than the average man and had a bloodlust greater than man’s. Its nostrils flared as it followed the scent of blood towards me, its creepy eyes soon found mine. It felt like it was locking its predatory gaze to his next prey. Me.

It crept closer, step by step, smelling the air and the spilt liquid, even tasting the latter as its snake-like tongue flicked at the floor. Getting a sample, I presumed. It didn’t really seem satisfied with it, though, since it swiftly jumped back, as if hurt, and looked up at me again. There was intelligence in those eyes. Intent. 

I just couldn’t figure out what for. It decided not to hurt me.

It was standing in front of me in one second and was running for the door in the next. It no doubt heard movement, the same way I did. I breathed out in relief, and slowly slid my arms out of the bindings, falling to the bottom of the tank. There was still some liquid in it, so it sloshed around as I moved. I ended up on my knees, clutching my stomach to slow the bleeding down. My attempt was futile.

I took a couple second to gather myself. I would have gladly taken a whole minute, but I was bleeding out. I needed to get out, get some help. There was no other way out but through the glass, so I clenched my fist and slammed it into a point where the glass was already weakened from a bullet. The fracture spread further, but it wasn’t enough to break. I hit it again, breathing heavily. God, this felt like I had just finished running a marathon and I barely even lifted my arm to strike out again. 

The glass gave in with a loud creak, hurting my arm, too, making me bleed from yet another location. I chewed on my lower lip to keep myself from bawling my eyes out and just kept hitting and kicking the glass after I stood up. My legs were wobbly, weak, as was expected. 

The shards were large, so I could avoid all of them when I jumped out of the tank, landing right next to the decapitated man. It took all my will to avert my gaze and hold it together. God, there was so much blood. Not just his; I could see his other fallen comrades, sprawled in different twisted positions, some missing entire limbs. Their blood decorated the plain white walls, giving an even more terrifying atmosphere to the room, adding to the dread the red emergency light made me feel. Something bad was happening in this facility and I needed to get out as soon as possible.

Only it would not be possible if I bled out before getting anywhere.

I swallowed some bile back and approached the dead guy next to me, crouching down to investigate his body. He was wearing what I suspected was tactical military gear, but there were no BSAA emblems on it. The armored vest he adorned didn’t really protect him in the end, but going through its many pockets, I found a bottle of some sort of first aid spray. I looked for bandages, too, but he had none of them. What he had were multiple magazines for his gun that I decided to pry away from his dead fingers that were still tightly locked around it. My hands were shaking as I did so, and I was beginning to feel light-headed.

Not a good sign.

I carefully inspected the handgun, trying to find out how to operate it without shooting myself. Figuring it out was easy, so as soon as I did, I moved on to another guy. I rifled through his pockets, too, but only found the same things. The beast didn’t leave much of him, though. His face was all but missing with his eyes clawed out of their sockets, missing entirely. I didn’t try to find them.

The third guy was different, wearing a lab-coat and even dead, clutching a large bag to his stomach. He was killed mid-scream, eyes wide and his jaw unhinged, almost completely torn away from his skull. It was gruesome, but I didn’t have time to throw up at the sight. The bag he was clutching was more important. It had a red cross on it, which universally indicated it being a first-aid kit. I grabbed its handle and pulled it out of his grasp. His arms came with them, tearing out of the sockets at the shoulder. I saw as the muscles stretched and snapped and heard the squelching sounds accompanying this.

It quickly became the last straw. I turned away from him and threw up. It was mostly blood, but I wasn’t in the right mind to worry about that anymore. My entire body shuddered as I collapsed onto my knees, still dry heaving, clutching my bleeding abdomen. I let a sob escape my mouth before I cursed and turned back to the bag. I didn’t try to tear it away from him anymore, just opened it up, smiling at the contents. Bandages. Lots and lots of bandages, forceps, band-aids and antiseptics that I was planning on making use of. 

I pulled everything I needed and inspected the first-aid spray’s can. It functioned as an antiseptic, helping the wound close, creating a temporary layer of protection above the hurt area. Just what I needed. 

I began with spraying the bullet holes, nearly screaming. The spray stung like hell at first, then it quickly became something like… minty freshness? The chill that remained reminded me of minty bubblegum and toothpaste. 

I administered the second can I found to the other bleeding hole that the tube left, experiencing the same chilly feeling. It was working, though, so it was all worth it. The flow of blood out of me noticeably slowed down, so I sprayed all of my remaining wounds, then bandaged myself up, focusing on my torso. I rolled all the bandages I could find around my abdomen area, then secured those and moved on to the smaller cuts. 

As I was working, I took time to finally look around the room. There were machines and computers around, with the tank being in the middle, like it was the main attraction. I was trying to find something to wear; I wasn’t too keen on walking around in my birthday suit, half-dead and covered in blood. I found a white lab-coat quickly enough. It was a few sizes too big, but at that point, I would take anything. I swiftly buttoned it up and realized, that while it covered most of my body, it also left little to the imagination with its deep neckline. I tried on another that I took off the same coat-hanger, but it was the same size. I chose the one with the pockets, since I was planning on taking some more first-aid and bandages with myself. I also took the pistol’s holster off the dead guy, securing it around my waist, like a belt, and slid the pistol in it. I went through the motion of quickly unholstering it, practicing the movement. There was plenty of ammo left in the belt’s pouches, so I made sure those were compatible with the gun.

I tiptoed through the room, making sure I made practically no noise. I didn’t want that beast to return and butcher me like it butchered everyone else.

One of the walls was full of screens, all dark, but in working order. I saw no cables running from those to the many computers nearby, but I didn’t expect a lab like this to be so careless as to leave cables out in the open for anyone to trip on. 

Regardless, all of the tech seemed to be operational, so I turned the closest computer on, sitting down on the chair in front of it. It was not password-protected; I presumed they never thought someone that doesn’t belong there would ever dare snoop around their labs. As soon as it booted, I was staring at DNA samples, genetics with scientific words that made no sense to me. I was a tech-gal, not a biologist, but those words and expressions, that I did understand, were worrying. Gene-splicing? DNA-modification? Both gave me the shivers as I thought about the beast that was a mutant of nature. My findings explained its existence, at least. 

What made my heart sink was the mention of my little brother. They compared his DNA to mine, searching for anomalies. 

The results of their tests went on for many pages, I understood maybe ten percent of it as I quickly ran my eyes along the lines. 

“Warning!” the mechanical voice started again. “Warning! All personnel must evacuate the building. Dangerous test subjects on the loose. Emergency protocol: Fire-hazard activated. Time until detonation of this sector: twenty minutes.”

“Well, shit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, your thoughts are always appreciated, so don't be afraid to comment. ^^,  
> Stay safe out there, everyone. ;)


	7. 20 Minutes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The clock is ticking for Kimberly and the laboratory complex she woke up in.

God, how the fuck am I going to get out of this place in twenty minutes? 

“Fuck me,” I muttered, hopping up from the chair a little too swiftly. Pain ricocheted around my body, making me sit back down almost instantly. “Fuck,” I groaned, staring at the monitor in front of me. 

I needed to find a map, a layout of this facility. I did so in less than a minute, but I was not in the right place mentally to even attempt memorizing it. I needed to find a phone, or tablet, or anything portable, that could help me. I desperately rifled through the drawers of the desk, looking for such tech, but only found what looked nothing more than a slab of glass. The absurdity of its placement got my attention, so I pulled it out and stared at it. And behold, I found myself a tablet the likes of which I had never seen before. 

It was easy to search for information on it, its interface was fairly intuitive. I found the same map, that I found on the computer. It was not enough for me, however. Since I was planning on surviving this, I wanted to take as much data from that computer as I could, copying everything I found. I would try to understand everything in case I survived.

The data transfer took five minutes, but that was okay. I was not very far from the exit elevator of this sector. I studied the layout and the weird codes that they used for the rooms. Mine was a series of six numbers; the lab next to this was yet another, but it had many more numbers listed underneath. It was only one room, according to the map, so I didn’t really understand it. 

Until it finally clicked. The first series of six numbers represented the date we were acquired. Mine was the date I was abducted, and the one next door was when my little brother disappeared. Counting the numbers divided by dashes, I figured out that his whole class was kept there. 

When the transfer was complete, I disconnected the tablet and bolted out the door, not even worrying about the beast’s possible presence. I needed to find Vincent. 

I clutched the tablet in one hand, not even looking at the map. It was pointless; I only needed to go to the laboratory next door. The corridor was empty of life, with dead bodies littering the floor in various positions and... wholeness. The gruesome sight barely even registered anymore; I was focused solely on finding my little brother. I stepped over the bodies, careful not to slip in their blood. I was still barefoot, but I didn’t mind that. It only meant that I was quieter.

I hesitated for a moment, as I held my hand above the doorknob, taking a shaky breath. Seven years of my life was spent wondering what happened to them. Seven years of hell and obsession. It would all soon end, one way or another.

I turned the knob, half-expecting it to be locked. It wasn’t, so I opened it wide and entered. The lights were already on, illuminating the entire room. Its immaculate, undisturbed floors and walls were in stark contrast to the one I left. 

The location of the wall-mounted screens, computers and desks mirrored the other’s, with the exception of the number of individual tanks in the middle of the room. While I was alone in the other, there were twenty tanks here, only two being as big as mine. Their lifeless remains were floating freely in what I presumed was the same kind of mucous liquid that surrounded me.

I hurried forward, looking for Vincent as tears rolled down my cheeks. I found him soon enough, his little body floating like the others, seemingly whole and relatively undisturbed. He was scarred, the location of these matching my own, unsurprisingly. A small voice in the back of my head still clung to the hope that he was alive, but the rest of me knew that was impossible. He had no means of breathing, there were no tubes pushed down his throat to help him breathe. None of them had anything. 

It was a weight lifted off my chest. I finally found him; I could finally put him to rest next to mom and dad. I never thought that he would be so well-preserved, that I would actually find a body, but I was glad that I did. I could give him the funeral he deserved and say goodbye to him one last time, giving him the respect he deserved. I wanted to give it to the others, as well, but I had no means of getting them out. 

I had no idea how I would get him out, either. The kids were still as small as I remembered, which meant that whatever was done to them killed them relatively early in their captivity. A nonexistent knife was twisting in my gut, as I thought about what they went through. It was traumatizing enough for me as a young adult, but for them, their little, fragile bodies... 

I was sobbing as I spread my palm on the cold glass of his tank at the same height where his face was. I needed to get him out, but I saw no release button to open the tank. I approached the computer instead and booted this one, too. No password, again, luckily. There were programs running on it that I had never seen before and opening them did me no good; it was mostly just more of the biology mumble, that I was too dumb to understand.

It was nearly at the ten-minute mark, that I found the release, draining the tank he was in. As soon as the pressure was gone, his lifeless body was on the bottom of it, with his forehead to the glass and his arms limply hanging by his sides. There were coats here, too, so I grabbed one and as soon as the glass was lifted up, I was there to catch him as he fell. He was so slippery, he nearly slipped out of my hold; and I was holding on to him with all my strength as I draped the lab-coat around him. It was twice his size, but it was the only thing I could get. 

I hugged him close to myself, as I sobbed into his black, wet hair. His body was warmer than I expected a dead body to be, so I took his pulse with trembling fingers. Nothing, as expected. So why was he not stiff? Was it because of that liquid he was in? Was it used to preserve the bodies enough for them to keep running tests on? Was the same thing waiting for me, too?

I found myself humming his favorite song as I rocked myself back and forth, completely forgetting about the countdown. Was it even worth getting out? What was outside, in the world, that was worth getting back to? Only pain and suffering. It would be over in ten minutes.

I was suddenly okay with it. Nothing waited for me outside but a prison sentence. Our society is still judgmental against all those that were prosecuted before, no matter the offence. How would I ever find my place in the world? I couldn’t rely on J and his unparalleled paternal instincts towards me forever, nor could I go back to living in a filthy hole with a pair of crackheads and a whore for company. 

I might never find out, since a door opened somewhere further down the hallway and hurried footsteps echoed all the way to me. A group of people were trying to get out, looking for the exit. I had no time to get up and close the door before they got to my position, so I kept on rocking Vincent back and forth, hoping whoever was out there would gloss over this laboratory.

They did not.

“Are those footsteps?” I heard someone say, quite close to the doorway if they could make out the bloody clues I inadvertently left. 

A moment later, curious eyes locked with mine as a guy appeared, peeking into the lab. His hands that held an automatic rifle moved quickly, training the gun on me the next second. 

“Identify yourself!” he ordered me. 

I considered not telling him, but he seemed trigger-happy, so I decided to oblige him. I barely opened my mouth when a familiar man stepped next to him. 

“At ease,” the fully armed and armored Chris told the man the moment he recognized me and started my way. He was alarmed, walking cautiously. That was fine, he couldn’t have known what they did to me. Hell, I didn’t know the full extent of it. “Do you know who I am?” he asked me as he stopped a few feet away from me.

Meanwhile, Valentine appeared at the door, walking past the man that saw me first. She frowned at the sight of the lab, eyeing everything suspiciously. 

I nodded at the man. “Your name is Chris,” I croaked at him. My throat’s been through a lot lately. Speaking hurt, but I continued with an apology. “Sorry for being so informal, sir, but you never introduced yourself, so I don’t know your surname. I only know your first, because she called you this.”

“I never... Really?” he swiftly turned to Valentine, who gave him a small smile before crouching down next to me.

“Manners were never your strong suit,” she told him. “We need to get out of here, Kimberly. Can you walk?”

“Yes, but I’m not going,” I told her, tightening my hold on my brother. 

“You will die here,” the captain told me the obvious. 

“In less than ten minutes, when this sector blows. I’m aware. I accomplished what I wanted to, what kept me going for as long as I have,” I said, looking down at Vincent, then back at him. “I don’t know what else is out there for me other than a prison sentence.”

“The BSAA’s got that handled, don’t worry,” Valentine told me, making me furrow my brows. “If you’d be willing to join our organization, that is.”

There was an explosion not so far from us, rattling the walls and the glass tanks, too. Our corridor would blow soon, according to the timer I set on the tablet that was on the ground next to me. 

“I wouldn’t go to prison?” I asked her, considering her offer. Hope filled my question, and she smiled at me.

“No, you wouldn’t. You would be absolved of all crimes you committed. But you need to survive first,” she answered, holding out her hand with her palm turned up towards me for me to take it. 

I glanced back at my brother. He deserved to be laid to rest after all these years, but I wasn’t strong enough to keep carrying him and the BSAA agents would likely need their hands to shoot if anything comes at us. There was nothing I could do for him, I had to admit that, but I could do many things to help others avoid the fate he and his class suffered. I took a deep breath and put a soft kiss on his forehead before gently laying his body down on the floor. He was so peaceful. 

I sniffled and took the hand she offered me. I was swaying on my legs, exhaustion taking hold of my body as pain struck me in all my wounds. 

“You are bleeding,” she looked at the already stained lab-coat. I hadn’t even realized that the bandages had already soaked through.

“There was a tube inside me when I woke up, then I got shot. I bandaged myself up to the best of my abilities, but I’m no medic.”

“Where did you wake up?” Chris asked me. He still hadn’t told me his last name.

“The lab next to this.” I pointed to its direction.

“Sir, that room is... It’s carnage,” one of the agents added. She was at the door, looking spooked. Two of them were scouting ahead and arrived back just in time to hear the topic.

The man immediately looked back at me. “It wasn’t me. There was a beast... a feline-canine-snake thing. It was a terrifying mix of the three. I was still in the tank when it tore through those men,” I explained, not understanding why they thought I had a hand in that.

How would I be capable of such a thing?

“In that case, it has been neutralized. Let’s get going. We’ll talk on the way. Can you walk?” Valentine asked me, steadying me on my feet. I nodded at her and followed when she turned around. 

There were ten more BSAA operatives loitering around the corridor, keeping watch. They were all familiar, being present at the PD before. Some of them brandished a few scars, but they had a medic with them, who immediately made his way over to me. I held out a hand to stop him. 

“We don’t have the time. I’m fine for now.” He questioned my honesty and wanted to protest, I could tell, but he kept his mouth shut and nodded. “I have a map,” I offered the tablet to Chris, who took charge with Valentine by his side. To my biggest surprise, he was carrying my little brother in his arms. I almost started sobbing again. I didn’t even need to ask him to do this. I blinked at Vincent, then handed Valentine the tablet. “We are here,” I pointed at our location, then the exit. “This is supposed to be an elevator leading to the exit.”

Chris nodded as Valentine held the tablet closer to him before looking around. “Stay sharp, everyone,” he said and followed the map. I fell back behind them, barely being able to keep up with them. The injury at my hip didn’t make moving easier, but I did the best I could, limping after them. “Chris Redfield is the name, by the way,” he informed me while we waited for the elevator. I smiled at him, nodding, absent-mindedly combing through my brother’s hair with my fingers. 

The lift arrived two seconds later and was of the industrial build; able to accommodate all thirteen of us comfortably. I had my back against its wall, breathing heavily, keeping my eyes shut. I wasn’t feeling well enough to continue for much longer. I tried not to let it show, to keep myself together, but their medic was perceptive and kept an eye out for me. 

I heard another explosion from below us, possibly from the floor we just left. Was the timer I set on the tablet wrong? Perhaps by half a minute or so, not more. Definitely not nearly eight minutes, that’s for sure. 

Might have been a different floor, then.

The elevator stopped a minute later, at what I was hoping was the main floor, where the final exit was located. Stepping out of it, we were met by an even more gruesome sight than the previous one. Without prompting, the medic walked up to me and put an arm around me while draping one of mine above his shoulders. He looked hellbent on keeping me on my feet, so I didn’t protest, just gave him a weak smile. 

Hearing some noise, I quickly averted my gaze to observe my surroundings. We were in the main lobby, heading towards a set of doors that led seemingly to nowhere. Dead bodies littered the floor, in various shapes and conditions, just like the corridor before. Some were mangled, chewed on and torn apart, usually in this order. Most of them were scientists wearing nothing but lab-coats for protection, so I suspected they didn’t put up much of a fight against whatever did this to them. The claw marks were similar to the beast’s that I came across, so it was a safe bet, that it was the culprit or some of its kin. 

“Did you lose anyone?” I asked the medic when I looked at the array of dead that must have been a task force of this company sent in to contain the situation. 

He followed my gaze to the dead. “No. Not this time, luckily. But we will if we don’t get you to a hospital. I will do what I can in our truck, but I can only delay your death a little with what I have at my disposal. You need greater help than I can provide.”

“Still better than the patchwork job I managed,” I reacted, not smiling at him anymore.

Putting one foot after the other was getting noticeably harder for me. I kept pushing forward, though, not giving up so easily. 

“This is Redfield, what is your ETA?” the captain contacted someone through his earpiece as he stared at me. “Get the choppers ready, we have wounded in need of advanced medical aid. Roger that, standing by. The trucks will arrive soon; Bravo team ran into some fleeing scientists and are busy apprehending them,” he explained it to the rest, making sure to gaze at everyone for a moment or two. “They will be here shortly.”

I realized that I might as well sit down while we wait, so I put my butt down on the first seating I saw, ready to make myself comfortable and go to sleep. It was not a good sign, but I didn’t give a fuck. I had enough problems with my throbbing injuries and cold shivers that ran along my spine, chilling me to the bone. 

Maybe if I slept a little, I would feel better. Yeah, a short nap is all I need to...

“Hey, stay awake,” someone shook me by the shoulders, trying to make me open my eyes. I didn’t want to. I wanted to rest. “Kimberly, do you hear me? You need to stay awake.”

I mumbled a weak protest at him before I was swallowed by the darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you for reading! :)  
> Stay safe out there, everyone!


End file.
